mycin

About 15 years ago I had a physical problem that kept me from participating in society for a few months. Once God started to heal me of this condition, I was able to think clearly and God worked in me to refine my faith. Since I was at a well-connected Bible college, I was able to grow in faith through prayer groups, worship services, Bible reading, and excellent Bible teaching. Genuine, tested faith brings glory to Jesus because it shows that I am approved by God and He is faithful to work in me through all circumstances.

When we identify too strongly with our present homeland, we believe Satan's lie that we have no purpose beyond this earth. As the great song goes, "This world is not my home, I'm just a-passing through." I have too often found myself becoming too attached to the world. When I concentrate too much on earthly things, I lose hope and life becomes an endless cycle of duty and addiction. To get this straight, I must focus on my relationship with God and my relationships with others, especially other Christians at work and at home but also other coworkers and students.We must remember that God has placed us here to impact others through service, to draw others to Christ, and to allow others to serve us. We do this to become more like Christ so that when our lives end he will welcome us as "good and faithful servants" ready to enter into eternal worship and celebration in the City of Light.

I don't know that I have ever prayed for anyone to be filled with all the fullness of God. By praying this prayer, I am being that God can perfect someone so they look and act just like Him. It is possible and I have seen it in some people I know. We need to trust God that He is perfecting us and wants us make us just like Him in almost every way. Ultimately, the goal is holiness and blameless without any spot or blemish as Ephesians 5:27 states. In Colossians 1:28 Paul says that admonishing and teaching in the Word of God can lead to perfection. Of course, we cannot be totally perfect like Jesus but we can become more like Him each day. Lord, continue to perfect me into the image of your Son whether or not it is seen by others.

Paul longs for us to know Christ's love beyond what we can even imagine. God's loved does not end. It should change the way we love for ourselves because His love is "wide and deep and long and high." It knows no bounds. Once we understand that in our lives and let it change us, then we can change the way we love each other by loving them for everything that they are.

Paul prays for strengthening of the inner man that we might have power in the Spirit. Today, we should pray that God strengthen and empower our souls to do His work. He prays that Christ dwells in believers' hearts because we tend to put other things ahead of God. We need for Him to take permanent residence within us and move through us with power. We cannot do these things on our own.

We need to believe in God's power in us in order for our faith to be vibrant and effective. Without it, we are powerless and make little difference in the world. I have seen this develop in my life through asking God for it and serving others. Over time, we see the effects of the power as we see changed lives. In order for others to experience this power in their lives, I need to pray that they would have this power revealed to them and then let it work through them as they serve others.

If God is poverty-stricken, the believer has no reason to pray. But since we know that he is wealthy, we can pray knowing that "great is our reward in heaven." He has a glorious inheritance for us to share with the saints. Unlike earthly wealth, this inheritance has no limits. All believers past, present, and future share the inheritance of the saints. I am still learning to appreciate this inheritance and pray that others who continue to live in the dark would see this glorious inheritance through my life and long to receive it and walk in it. "I want to be in the light as you are in the light. I want to shine like the stars in the heavens. Let the Lord be my light and be my salvation. All I want to be is in the light. All I want to be is in the light." ("I Wanna Be in the Light", DC Talk)

Paul prays that the believers would come to know Christ better through the Holy Spirit's work in them to bring about greater understanding. Yes, people can come to know God on their own but prayer is essential in revealing greater truths about God. God can work in people in any situation but the prayers of other believers and a community of believers of which to belong to are so important to growing in the faith. This prayer for other believers is so important because some essential growth comes only through God's word revealed through the Holy Spirit into an individual's life. Teaching and mentoring are vital but some knowledge and understanding comes only through prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit in a quiet place.

The Father was pleased because put His will under the authority of the Father's will. We must be passionate about the Father's will if we really want to receive what is best for us. In order to fall in line with the Father's will we must first pray for what we want then surrender it to the Lord. If our will aligns with the Father's we will receive with full joy. If not, at least we did not pretend to car about the Father's will when we were really just selfish and religious. We must live in true relationship as the children of God and living to please the Father.

Jesus prayed to have the cup taken from him because he may have wanted to remove the Father's agony of losing His son. He was so intense because this was the ultimate sacrifice and he wanted to show his humility. Although it sounds like Jesus was resisting the Father's will, He was not because he recognized that it was not his will but God's. He was willing to pay the price but he had to wrestle with it first since he was both fully human and fully God. In his humanity he had no strength to continue but, in his deity, God strengthened so that he might "endure the cross and mark out the race set before us."

Jesus tells his disciples to pray because he knew that they were so exhausted from sorrow that they needed strength to continue. They were tempted to flee and Jesus knew that he needed their support at this most trying time. The content of their prayer was simple, "Father, keep us from giving in to temptation." The disciples were not very diligent, though, as they fell asleep while waiting for Jesus to return. In a similar way, the Lord's Prayer says, "Lead us not into temptation." I think Jesus needed to be alone in order for the disciples to learn how to pray without him. They had spent so much time learning from him and now he was about to be taken from to be killed and, just over 40 days later, then to return to his Father.

Daniel and Esther both held high positions in the government and were being called on by God to save their people. It's even more amazing that they were in the same palace. I believe God places people in strategic positions because He has chosen to use people to accomplish His plans on the earth. Will we stand up for His name? It is our responsibility to stand for God's truth at all times even if it means that we might die for our beliefs. This has never really happened to me although I was with a group in Turkey who was being watched. Some areas of the country are very anti-Christian. I think we probably prayed as a group and our missionary leader finally got him to leave us alone.

Nehemiah bases his appeal on God's promises to His people and their desire to serve Him. God had made a covenant with Moses that He would one day gather the Israelites who had been scattered. He would keep His promise. Nehemiah also argued that the Israelites were delighting in honoring the Lord through service and that He should reward His servants by bringing them out of exile. Out of this, I learn that a big part of intercession involves God's people reminding Him of the covenant He has made to them while we also are called to served. Both parties have a responsibility in the reconciliation.

It looks like Nehemiah prays for four months in order to discern from God what he is to say to the king. He could probably have had an audience with the king at any time but he wants the favor of God most importantly. He fasts and weeps during this time because, like Daniel, he chooses to identify with his sinful nation. He stands in the gap for them, interceding for them that God might show mercy and forgive them. This act of humility is not excessive because God is an "awesome" God. His wrath knows no bounds. Yet, if we realize our sinfulness and truly repent, the Bible says that "his grace is sufficient to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God wants to restore His people if we will, like Nehemiah, humble others and cry out for mercy. Then, he may even kings, rulers, or other people to further restore us as we walk in His ways again.

Daniel's prayer was a prayer for mercy. 16O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us." The grounds of His appeal included God's precedent of delivering Israel from Egypt, that God would receive the glory, that deliverance displays God's mercy. The appeal also calls upon God's personal identification wtih Jerusalem as the City of God and his holy hill, a renewal of worship in God's temple, a city that "bears His name", and God's character as a merciful God. God answered their prayer by bringing them out of exile a few years later. Lord God, help me to apply the lessons I've learned this week to continue to grow as a "prayer". Be glorified in me.